Homes For Sale Are Spending Less And Less Time On The Market

The median time that homes spent on the market was down to 37 days in June, from 41 days in May.

This is 47% faster than a year ago.

The housing market has clearly been moving fast.

“The market for existing properties is clearly still tight. Despite the drop in sales, months supply only inched up to a still-low 5.2 months And the number of days on the market for sale plunged to 37 from 70 a year ago,” Bank of America’s Michelle Meyer told Business Insider.

“This is indicative of healthy demand in an environment of low supply, which will underpin home prices.”

Redfin’s Fastest Markets Report showed that 32% of homes went under contract within two weeks, and 20% in one week or less. While this was less that 33.2% in May, this was still one of the fastest markets in years, according to Redfin.

Earlier this year we reported on flash sales in parts of the country, where homes sold with 24 hours of hitting the market as supply remained tight.

“The spike in mortgage rates led buyers that were already in the market for a new home to rush to lock in low rates while they could,” according to Ellen Haberle, economist at Redfin.

But the amount of time spent on the market shouldn’t be considered alone, warns Paul Diggle at Capital Economics. He notes that the months’ of unsold stock — a measure of housing inventory — is moving in the opposite direction.

“That makes me a little cautious about taking them at face value,” Diggle told Business Insider.